If you attended the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house last Sunday on beetles, you may have seen what Bohart research associate Brittany Kohler displayed: a live diabolical ironclad beetle, Phloeodes diabolicus.

Curious visitors crowded around the flightless beetle, taking multiple cell phone images as Kohler fielded multiple questions.

"I found it in the Sierra Foothills, by Murphys," said Kohler, a UC Davis alumna and prospective graduate student. Murphys, located in Calaveras County, sits in the central Sierra Nevada foothills between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park.

What's unusual about this inch-long beetle, found in the deserts of western North America and living on fungi growing under tree bark?

It lies flat and low to the ground and is built like a little armored tank. It can withstand crushing forces--not just your foot, a pinch, or a battering ram, but a 3400-pound car.  UC Riverside researcher Jesus Rivera, now of UC Irvine, performed compression tests in 2015: a Toyota Camry drove over the beetle twice and it survived.

"A 200-pound man would have to endure the crushing weight of 7.8 million pounds to equal this feat," according to a UCI news release, published Oct. 21, 2020.

Rivera's research, "Toughening Mechanisms of the Elytra of the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle," published in the Oct. 21 edition of Nature, drew widespread coverage, ranging from the New York Times and Science to the Smithsonian magazine. 

The beetle's tough structure, notably the densely layered and interlocking wing covers, or elytra, seem out of this world.

 "...The beetle's exoskeleton uses internal layers, tight joints and overall near-indestructible shape to give it both toughness and flexibility under pressure," wrote correspondent Theresa Machemer in the Oct. 22 edition of the Smithsonian magazine.

Writer Elizabeth Pennisi marveled about it in the Oct. 21, 2020 edition of article Science in an article headlined: "Even a Car Can't Kill This Beetle. Here's Why." She posted a video of the Toyota driving over the beetle.  "The scientists," she noted, "are now using the beetle's design to build similarly strong fasteners with potential for use in cars, bicycles, and even airplanes. Who knows, one day you might see a Volkswagen Beetle as tough as a, well, beetle."

Katherine Wu of the New York Times related that the researchers "assessed the tensile strength and composition of the beetle's exterior with a suite of ultrasensitive instruments. The ironclad's exoskeleton, they found, was packed with proteins that seemed to enhance its durability. It was also cleverly structured: Evolved from a pair of now-defunct forewings, the exoskeleton stretched across the insect's back and hooked into a separate structure sheathing the insect's belly, encasing the beetle in a shell with an airy buffer underneath."

Wu compared the arrangement "to an industrial-strength egg, with the yolk sloshing gently against a cushion of whites."

Said Kohler of the Bohart Museum display: "Surprisingly, none of the visitors really knew about them; they were interested to learn that they were so tough externally and that they ate mushrooms--they are fungiphores. The children had the best time using the magnifying glasses to look at them along with being able to touch, and hold them!"

The amazing world of insects...

The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, including a million beetles.  Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, the museum also houses a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, tarantulas and more) and a year-around gift shop. The Bohart is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. 

Dragonflies rule!

That was the theme of the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 6, and dragonflies do just that--they rule.

They don't just rule in the water as larvae and in the air as adults. 

They ruled at the Bohart Museum open house as visitors examined the displayed specimens; admired the images in the displayed books and the slide presentations; and chatted with the dragonfly experts.

A sign, "Meet the Dragonfly Experts," greeted the more than 220 guests:

• Rosser Garrison, retired from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (Pest Diagnostics Branch of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services)
• Christopher Beatty, a visiting scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University
• Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas
• UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers of the laboratory of Professor and Chancellor's Fellow Stacey Combes, Department of  Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences.
• Andy Rehn, stream ecologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus

One Bohart Museum display featured “the largest dragonfly in the world," Petalura ingentissima," discovered by R. J. Tillyard in 1908 in North Queensland, Australia. The dragonfly's wingspan measures 160 mm or a little over 6.3 inches. Its species name is derived from the Latin word, ingens, meaning "huge."

Garrison, widely recognized as one of the current leading experts of the taxonomy of New World Odonata, delivered an hour-long presentation and answered questions. He and his wife, Natalia von Ellenrieder, a senior insect biosystematist with CDFA, have worked intensively with the Odonata fauna of the Neotropical region. He has written more than 100 publications pertaining to Odonata, including three books: Dragonfly Genera of the New World: An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Anisoptera (2006), Damselfly Genera of the New World: An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Zygoptera (2010) and, as co-author, Dragonflies of the Yuangas: A Field Guide to the Species from Argentina (2007).

Garrison told the crowd that "There are over 6300 species of dragonflies throughout the world. They are excellent fliers; they hunt by sight and seize their prey (other insects) on the wing. Their size ranges between 2 and 15 centimeters."

Other facts discussed about dragonflies included:

• The larvae are aquatic and they can be carnivores.
• The fossil record is rich.
• Dragonfly relatives existed before the onset of the dinosaurs---Triassic Period, 250 to 200 million years ago
• They have a primitive flight mechanism compared to other insects, bees, butterflies, beetles and flies.
• Dragonflies mostly mate on the wing.
• They are not poisonous and they do not sew up people's ears (“devil's darning needles”). However, one group of large dragonflies are called—appropriately—"Darners."
• Larvae have a prehensile foldable lower lip unique in insects; it is used for capturing prey like mosquito larvae or even small fish.

Garrison has written or co-written taxonomic revisions of more than 20 genera of New World Odonata, such as Enallagma (1984), Hetaerina (1990), Erpetogomphus (1994), Mnesarete (2006) and Telebasis (2009). His present taxonomic work, jointly with von Ellenrieder, focuses on the speciose genus Argia on which he has published several revisions (1994, 1996, 2019, 2019, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022 (in press).

Garrison's publications include descriptions of more than 75 new species and six new genera of Odonata. In the Americas, he has done entomological field work in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, French Guiana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. He has also collected dragonflies in Australia, Papua New Guinea, China, Thailand, Namibia and Iran.  One genus and 10 species of Odonates are named after him.

Christopher Beatty
Christopher Beatty has been working "for a few years on petaltail dragonflies, with much of the work focused on the Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni) in California and Oregon." Beatty was recently selected to present the prestigious Entomological Society of America's Founders' Memorial Lecture at the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia. He'll speak at the awards breakfast on Nov. 15 on  "The Passionate Observer: The Life and Times of Jean-Henri Fabre."  Fabre (1823-1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, educator, and author.

Beatty said he has focused much of his entomological career studying the behavior and ecology of dragonflies and damselflies, having served in research and teaching positions at the University of Vigo (Spain), Santa Clara University, Cornell University, the University of Kiel (Germany), and Stanford University. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed articles since 2003, and he is co-editor of the newly published Dragonflies & Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press). 

Andy Rehn
Andy Rehn is a stream ecologist studying benthic macroinvertebrates as part of bioassessments of bodies of water to ensure they are healthy and clean for drinking and recreation and can support diverse, native wildlife. He received his doctorate, studying dragonflies, at UC Davis in 2000.

Christofer Brothers
Cristofer Brothers is a fourth-year animal behavior doctoral student. He is researching how dragonflies, in both their nymph and adult stages, use their legs to capture prey. In particular, he studies the behavior of the flameskimmer, Libellula saturata. Brothers delivered a guest presentation on dragonfly predation behavior at the 2022 UC Davis Bio Boot Camp.

Greg Kareofelas
Greg Kareofelas credits Andy Rehn with inspiring him to study dragonflies. "That was when Andy was a doctoral student at UC Davis." Kareofelas, a longtime Bohart associate, naturalist and insect photographer,  assists at Bohart events and presents informational talks at the Bohart Museum lab meetings, among other venues. He most recently gave a presentation on dragonflies at the Nov. 4th lab meeting. His work includes providing images for the poster, "Dragonflies of California," available in the Bohart Museum gift shop. Entomologist Fran Keller,  a professor at Folsom Lake College and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus, designed the poster.

The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, it is the global home of eight million insect specimens, as well as the live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more. Named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, it is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. 

It's Friday Fly Day--no, let's switch that insect order from Diptera to Odonata and make it "DragonFLY Day."

Better yet, let's make Sunday, Nov. 6 "The DragonFLY Day."

That's when the Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house--themed "Dragonflies Rule!"--from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis.

It's free and family friendly. Among the dragonfly experts lending their expertise will be Rosser Garrison, formerly of the California Department of Food and Agriculture; Christopher Beatty, a visiting scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University; Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas; UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers; and UC Davis alumnus Andy Rehn, ecologist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, among others. 

Question of the day: Have you ever photographed the flameskimmer dragonfly, Libellula saturata?

The males are a firecracker red and delightful to observe. Sometimes they "permit" you to approach so close that you can see what's on the menu: a honey bee, sweat bee, syrphid fly or other prey. 

Cristofer Brothers, a fourth-year animal behavior doctoral student at UC Davis, took this image (above) of a stunningly beautiful flameskimmer.  "I'm most interested in how dragonflies use their legs while they capture prey in both of their nymph and adult stages," he said. "My PhD is focusing on the behavior of Libellula saturata, the flame skimmer, and on various other species for phylogenetic comparisons of their behavior and morphology."

"I've been fascinated by dragonflies since I was a kid, and would always try to save adults that fell into the pool," he said. "As a teenager, I was a lifeguard and always loved it when dragonflies would perch on my rescue tube, and always wanted to learn more about them. Now, I have the privilege to spend all day reading about, thinking about, and looking at them, so I'm really living the dream!"

Brothers studies in the laboratory of Professor and Chancellor's Fellow Stacey Combes, Department of  Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences.

Brothers delivered a guest presentation on dragonfly predation behavior at the 2022 UC Davis Bio Boot Camp. His talk took place along the banks of Putah Creek where the group met to learn about and search for dragonflies. 

Also during the Bohart Museum open house, a family arts-and-crafts activity is planned: visitors can color pages from Kathy Claypole Biggs' dragonfly coloring book.  Guests can view the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) collection, curated by entomologist Jeff Smith; and "pet" and take selfies of some of the live animals in the petting zoo, which includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas.

The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, is directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. It is the global home of eight million insect specimens, as well as the live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more.

Named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, the Bohart Museum is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.  More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. 

Dragonflies rule and so do the scientists who study them.

Be sure to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Dragonflies Rule!" from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis.

It's free and family friendly. You'll learn about dragonflies, view dragonfly specimens and publications, and you can ask questions of the scientists. 

We announced earlier that dragonfly expert Rosser Garrison, formerly of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, will lend his expertise as will Bohart Museum associate Greg Kareofelas. So will Christopher Beatty, known as "Doc Beatty" on social media; UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers; and UC Davis alumnus Andy Rehn, UC Davis alumnus Andy Rehn, ecologist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, among others.  

Christopher Beatty
Christopher Beatty, a visiting scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University, wrote in an email that he has been working "for a few years on petaltail dragonflies, with much of the work focused on the Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni) in California and Oregon. I am happy to help out answering general questions about dragonflies, and can also answer questions about my research if there is interest." He's on Twitter at @ChrisDBeatty.

Beatty was recently selected to present the prestigious Entomological Society of America's Founders' Memorial Lecture at the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia. He'll speak at the awards breakfast on Nov. 15 on  "The Passionate Observer: The Life and Times of Jean-Henri Fabre."  Fabre (1823-1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, educator, and author.

ESA established the Founders' Memorial Award in 1958 "to honor the memory of scientists who made outstanding contributions to entomology," according to a website post. ESA announced that "Beatty has focused much of his entomological career studying the behavior and ecology of dragonflies and damselflies, having served in research and teaching positions at the University of Vigo (Spain), Santa Clara University, Cornell University, the University of Kiel (Germany), and Stanford University. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed articles since 2003, and he is currently co-editing the forthcoming Dragonflies & Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press).

Beatty holds a bachelor's degree (1996) in ecology, ethology, and evolution from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; a master's degree (2002) in environmental science from Oregon State University; and a doctorate (2006) in ecology, evolution, systematics, and population biology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Cristofer Brothers
Cristofer Brothers is a fourth-year animal behavior doctoral student. "I'm most interested in how dragonflies use their legs while they capture prey in both of their nymph and adult stages," he said. "My PhD is focusing on the behavior of Libellula saturata, the flame skimmer, and on various other species for phylogenetic comparisons of their behavior and morphology."

"I've been fascinated by dragonflies since I was a kid, and would always try to save adults that fell into the pool. As a teenager, I was a lifeguard and always loved it when dragonflies would perch on my rescue tube, and always wanted to learn more about them. Now, I have the privilege to spend all day reading about, thinking about, and looking at them, so I'm really living the dream!"

He studies in the laboratory of Professor and Chancellor's Fellow Stacey Combes, Department of  Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences.